DOCSLIB.ORG

Constructing Playgoing in Early Modern Drama Eric Dunnum Marquette University

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Constructing Playgoing in Early Modern Drama Eric Dunnum Marquette University Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Performing the Audience: Constructing Playgoing in Early Modern Drama Eric Dunnum Marquette University Recommended Citation Dunnum, Eric, "Performing the Audience: Constructing Playgoing in Early Modern Drama" (2011). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 107. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/107 PERFORMING THE AUDIENCE: CONSTRUCTING PLAYGOING IN EARLY MODERN DRAMA by Eric Dunnum, B.A., M.A. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2011 ABSTRACT PERFORMING THE AUDINECE: CONSTRUCTING PLAYGOING IN EARLY MODERN DRAMA Eric Dunnum Marquette University, 2011 This dissertation argues that early modern playwrights used metadrama to construct the experience and concept of playgoing for their audiences. By staging playgoing in front of playgoers, playwrights sought to teach their audiences how to attend a play and how to react to a performance. This type of instruction was possible, and perhaps necessary, because in early modern London attending a professionally produced play with thousands of other playgoers was a genuinely new cultural activity, so no established tradition of playgoing existed. Thus, playwrights throughout the era from John Lyly to Richard Brome attempted to invent playgoing through their performances. The first chapter argues that this construction of playgoing was heavily influenced by the politics and economics of the London playhouses. Throughout the early modern era, London magistrates and puritan antitheatrical writers viewed performances as producing the immoral, unruly and often riotous actions of the audiences. And they used these reactions to performances as an excuse to close the playhouses and punish the playwrights. In order to keep the playhouses open and their livelihoods intact, playwrights had to keep their audiences from reacting to drama. Each subsequent chapter traces a method playwrights employed to limit audience reaction. The second chapter demonstrates that playwrights tried to limit the effect performances had on their audiences by dramatizing playgoers who were not affected by drama, thereby discouraging audiences from seeing themselves as the object of performance. The third chapter shows how playwrights often satirized playgoers who reacted to performances in order to stigmatize audience reaction. The final two chapters challenge the commonly held critical opinion that playwrights were working within a humanist interpretive tradition, which linked reading, imitation and praxis. Instead, I suggest that playwrights attempted to keep audiences from actively interpreting their performances in order to limit audience reaction. The study concludes by comparing Hamlet with The Duchess of Malfi and argues that Webster’s play (and not as commonly thought Hamlet ) is a representative and comprehensive example of the early modern construction of playgoing. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Eric Dunnum, B.A., M.A. Like many early modern plays, this text is a collaborative effort, even though it is only attributed to one person. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge those who made key contributions, while also acknowledging that there are many who will remain unacknowledged. Though I fully acknowledge the many hands that went into this text, any faults that it contains are, of course, my own. Without my dissertation committee, this project would never have been completed, but they did more than enable the text; their contributions made it better, and their patience and support, made the process much easier than it could have been. Stephen Karian offered a broad and insightful perspective on drama and metadrama that helped combat my often myopic view. He also inspired an interest in the history of the book; a subject that, through many twists and turns, made its way into this text. John Curran’s infectious enthusiasm for non-Shakespearean early modern drama helped me decide on this topic, and his encyclopedic knowledge of drama helped turn the topic into a project. I’m particularly grateful for his early suggestion that The Roman Actor would be a key text for my argument. I have no doubt this uncanny insight, along with others, saved me a lot of time. More than anyone, Amelia Zurcher deserves credit for any value this dissertation has. From its inception as a ten page paper midterm paper for her class on early modern drama and violence through its completion, she had a hand in every aspect of its production. Her willingness to read anything I wrote – early (and very rough) drafts of chapters, conference papers, fellowship applications and even acknowledgement pages – truly went above and beyond what is expected of a dissertation director. Her commentary on these drafts was without exception thoughtful, insightful and challenging without being burdensome or heavy handed. In fact, she was always willing to help me explore an argument or line of thought even when she personally disagreed with it. This openness to new ideas is, I believe, the mark of a true intellectual, and she has provided me with an exceptional example of this trait, for which I am also grateful. Outside of my committee, there have been numerous professional academics who contributed to this project. M.C. Bodden and Albert Rivero saw an early prospectus of this argument, and asked some very suggestive questions, questions that I spent several years trying to answer. I would also like to acknowledge my thesis advisor Douglas Hayes; without his support and encouragement, I’m sure I never would have pursued this degree. Generous fellowships from the Smith family and the Marquette English Department allowed me time off from teaching and working to focus on this project and enabled me to research early editions of plays and commonplace books at the Huntington and Newberry Library. Many thanks to Brandon Chitwood and Buddy Storm, the other two legs of the tripod, for their ability to make a night out feel productive. Their friendship and support made this process rewarding, tolerable and infinitely more fun. I would also like to thank Bertram and Rigby, who always seemed to know when I needed a break. ii Of course, without my parents, Ron and Anita, none of this would be possible. I can’t thank them enough for teaching me the importance of education, a lesson I often tried hard not to learn, but in the end learned (perhaps too) well. My deepest thanks go to my wife Michelle. Her support throughout this process has been absolute. To make sure this project was completed, she sacrificed more than I am willing to acknowledge here. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………....i INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………...1 CHAPTER I. The Social Formation of Playgoing and Its Absent Cause………………........11 II. Performance’s Response to Audience: The Relationship between Audience, Performance and Reality ………………………………...………………......67 III. Mirrors in the Playhouse: The Praxis of Constructing Playgoing ….….…..101 IV. Unstable Texts, Active Readers; Stable Performances, Non-Reactive Playgoers …………………………………………………………………...140 V. Anti-Mimetic Drama: Performance’s Relationship to Reality and the Playgoer’s Interpretive Agency ……………………………………………195 Coda. Return to Malfi: The Secrecy of Performance and the Consequences of Constructing Playgoing …………………………………………...……239 Notes. …………………………………………………………………………..262 1 Introduction: New, Unruly Playgoers and Metadrama In 2008, I attended a production of Titus Andronicus that was billed as an authentic rendition of the play. The idea was to put on a performance that recreated the experience of attending an early modern production of Shakespeare’s play. To accomplish this goal, the actors did not thoroughly rehearse their parts or memorize their lines, but rather read from scrolls that only contained their lines and the line directly before theirs. The audience was also asked to help contribute to the authenticity of the performance. Before the show began, we were asked by the director to actively participate in the performance by booing the villain, cheering the hero, verbally denouncing bad acting, and in general behaving like rowdy, unruly early modern playgoers. Surprisingly, our role as unruly playgoers was difficult to pull off and our attempt to play that part was perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of the experience (which is saying a lot given we were watching Titus Andronicus ). It was a small production and most of the audience members knew each other, and the cast and director knew most of the audience. And yet, everybody seemed unwilling to interrupt the performance with catcalls, hisses, or cheers, and any attempt on the part of the audience to do what the director asked felt uncomfortable and forced. So for the most part, we sat silently and watched the production like polite, quiet twenty-first century playgoers. What this attempt at recreating the early modern playgoing experience brought home to me is that attending a play is not a natural activity; playgoing does not exist as a universal idea. It has a history, and different cultures construct playgoing differently. The 2 twenty-first century audience of Titus Andronicus could not easily slip into the role of early modern playgoers because our notion of playgoing was vastly different from the early modern notion. We have been trained through some set
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 BBC Four Biopics
    BBC Four biopics: Lessons in Trashy Respectability The broadcast of Burton and Taylor in July 2013 marked the end of a decade- long cycle of feature-length biographical dramas transmitted on BBC Four, the niche arts and culture digital channel of the public service broadcaster. The subjects treated in these biopics were various: political figures, famous cooks, authors of popular literature, comedians and singers. The dramas focused largely on the unhappy or complex personal lives of well-loved figures of British popular culture. From the lens of the 21st century, these dramas offered an opportunity for audiences to reflect on the culture and society of the 20th century, changing television’s famous function of ‘witness’ to one of ‘having witnessed’ and/or ‘remembering’ (Ellis, 2000). The programmes function as nostalgia pieces, revisiting personalities familiar to the anticipated older audience of BBC Four, working in concert with much of the archive and factual content on the digital broadcaster’s schedules. However, by revealing apparent ‘truths’ that reconfigure the public images of the figures they narrate, these programmes also undermine nostalgic impulses, presenting conflicting interpretations of the recent past. They might equally be seen as impudent incursions onto the memory of the public figures, unnecessarily exposing the real-life subjects to censure, ridicule or ex post facto critical judgement. Made thriftily on small budgets, the films were modest and spare in visual style but were generally well received critically, usually thanks to writerly screenplays and strong central performances. The dramas became an irregular but important staple of the BBC Four schedule, furnishing the channel with some of their highest ratings in a history chequered by low audience numbers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Relationship of the Dramatic Works of John Lyly to Later Elizabethan Comedies
    Durham E-Theses The relationship of the dramatic works of John Lyly to later Elizabethan comedies Gilbert, Christopher G. How to cite: Gilbert, Christopher G. (1965) The relationship of the dramatic works of John Lyly to later Elizabethan comedies, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9816/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 THE RELATIONSHIP OP THE DRAMATIC WORKS OP JOHN LYLY TO LATER ELIZABETHAN COMEDIES A Thesis Submitted in candidature for the degree of Master of Arts of the University of Durham by Christopher G. Gilbert 1965 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. DECLARATION I declare this work is the result of my independent investigation.
    [Show full text]
  • Object Like Theirs Is Self-Perpetuation
    Lehigh Preserve Institutional Repository Mapping significance : geographical musings on the three "hoe" plays Blaisdell, Theodore A. 1997 Find more at https://preserve.lib.lehigh.edu/ This document is brought to you for free and open access by Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Blaisdell, Ted , Mapping Significance­ Geographical Musings on the Three "Hoe" Plays. June 1, 1997 ' Mapping Significance . Geographical Musings on the three "Hoe" Plays by Ted Blaisdell J A Thesis Presented to the Graduate and Research Committee of Lehigh University in Candid.acy for the Degree of Master ofArts in English Lehigh University April, 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS ... Abstract Page 1 Text -- "Mapping Significance" Page 2 Bibliography Page 39 11 Abstract for "Mapping Significance" This study examines the use oftopography as a stylistic device in the Jacobean City Comedies. Beginningwith an examination ofthe critical history of this device and its relevance to current New Historical approaches to literary criticism, the paper then focuses specific attention on Westward Hoe, Eastward Hoe, and Northward Hoe, three collaborative City Comedies whose geographic· sensitivity with respect to the London river trade is revealed in their titles. The authors' employed the language ofposition and direction to provide relevance and depth to their plots and their characterizations. The authors portray London as a hub ofvirtue surrounded by the relative "viciousness" ofthe Suburbs and the Liberties. This characterization ofLondon as the center ofvirtue rests on a set of values valorizing the capitalistic principles offree trade and private property.
    [Show full text]
  • Mastering Masques of Blackness, Andrea Stevens
    andrea stevens Mastering Masques of Blackness: Jonson’s Masque of Blackness, The Windsor text of The Gypsies Metamorphosed, and Brome’s The English Moor Black all over my body, Max Factor 2880, then a lighter brown, then Negro No. 2, a stronger brown. Brown on black to give a rich mahogany. Then the great trick: that glorious half-yard of chiffon with which I polished myself all over until I shone . The lips blueberry, the tight curled wig, the white of the eyes, whiter than ever, and the black, black sheen that covered my flesh and bones, glistening in the dressing-room lights.enlr_1052 396..426 Iam...IamI...IamOthello...butOlivier is in charge.1 —Laurence Olivier, On Acting (1986) Ben Jonson’s “Masque of Blackness” was composed, as the author himself declares, at the express commandment of the Queen (Anne of Denmark), who had a desire to appear along with the fairest ladies of her court, as a negress. I doubt whether the most enthusiastic amies des noirs among our modern beauties, would willingly undergo such a transfor- mation.What would the Age say, if our gracious Queen should play such a frolic?...Itmustnotbe supposed that these high-born masquers sooted their delicate complexions like the Wowskies of our barefaced stages. The masque of black velvet was as common as the black patches in the time of the Spectator.2 —Hartley Coleridge, The Dramatic Works of Massinger and Ford (1859) I am grateful to Bruce Holsinger, Robert Markley, and especially Paul Menzer for their detailed critiques of drafts of this paper.Thanks are due also to the essay’s earliest readers: Christine Luckyj, Katharine Maus, Elizabeth Fowler, Sarah Hagelin, Ellen Malenas Ledoux, and Samara Landers.
    [Show full text]
  • Anatomy of a State Security Case the “Victorious Sect” Arrests
    Egypt Anatomy of a HUMAN State Security Case RIGHTS WATCH The “Victorious Sect” Arrests December 2007 Volume 19, no. 9(e) Anatomy of a State Security Case The “Victorious Sect” Arrests Summary ................................................................................................................. 1 Methodology ...........................................................................................................7 Background ............................................................................................................ 8 Political opposition and violence in Egypt .......................................................... 8 Egypt’s State Security Investigations.................................................................. 9 The Emergency Law...........................................................................................10 Proposed New Counterterrorism Law................................................................. 14 The Case of the “Victorious Sect”........................................................................... 15 The Announcement of the “Victorious Sect” Arrests .......................................... 15 The Actual Arrests .............................................................................................18 Detention, Torture, and Confessions .................................................................32 Prosecution Dropped ........................................................................................50 The Timing: A Connection to Egypt’s Emergency Law?........................................56
    [Show full text]
  • National Sample from the 1851 Census of Great Britain List of Sample Clusters
    NATIONAL SAMPLE FROM THE 1851 CENSUS OF GREAT BRITAIN LIST OF SAMPLE CLUSTERS The listing is arranged in four columns, and is listed in cluster code order, but other orderings are available. The first column gives the county code; this code corresponds with the county code used in the standardised version of the data. An index of the county codes forms Appendix 1 The second column gives the cluster type. These cluster types correspond with the stratification parameter used in sampling and have been listed in Background Paper II. Their definitions are as follows: 11 English category I 'Communities' under 2,000 population 12 Scottish category I 'Communities' under 2,000 population 21 Category IIA and VI 'Towns' and Municipal Boroughs 26 Category IIB Parliamentary Boroughs 31 Category III 'Large non-urban communities' 41 Category IV Residual 'non-urban' areas 51 Category VII Unallocable 'urban' areas 91 Category IX Institutions The third column gives the cluster code numbers. This corresponds to the computing data set name, except that in the computing data set names the code number is preceded by the letters PAR (e.g. PAR0601). The fourth column gives the name of the cluster community. It should be noted that, with the exception of clusters coded 11,12 and 91, the cluster unit is the enumeration district and not the whole community. Clusters coded 11 and 12, however, correspond to total 'communities' (see Background Paper II). Clusters coded 91 comprise twenty successive individuals in every thousand, from a list of all inmates of institutions concatenated into a continuous sampling frame; except that 'families' are not broken, and where the twenty individuals come from more than one institution, each institution forms a separate cluster.
    [Show full text]
  • University Wits
    A brief study of UNIVERSITY WITS Presented for The students of Degree 1 English Hons. By Dr. Mohammad Shaukat Ansari Department of English M.L.S.M. College, Darbhanga, Bihar (L.N. Mithila University) UNIVERSITY WITS A Creative Group of Pioneer English dramatists (1585 – 1600) Elizabethan Age – The Golden age of Drama. The Pre-Shakespearean dramatists – John Lyly, Robert Greene, George Peele, Thomas Kyde, Christopher Marlowe – are known as University Wits. Marlowe has been justly called “the father of English drama”, “the Morning Star of the English Drama”. • The University Wits is a phrase used to name a group of late 16th century English playwrights who were educated at the universities. • Christopher Marlowe, 1564 - 93, Robert Greene, 1560 - 92 and Thomas Kyd, 1558 - 94 (graduates from Cambridge University) • Thomas Lodge, 1558 - 1625 and George Peele, 1558 - 98 (graduates from Oxford University) • The University Wits were professional writers in English, and prepared the way for the writings of William Shakespeare, who was born just two months after Christopher Marlowe. • Shakespeare was indebted to each of them. • The drama was truly national that time. • A true expression of national genius in England despite various foreign influences • Dramas became food for mind as well as eyes. • Even, performances were given every night, and as such dramas became source of income. • The University Wits drew materials from old plays, mythology, legend and history, and even revised them appropriately. • The University Wits were aware of demands of stage and audience too. • The University Wits made significant contributions to the development of English drama. • Their dramas were full of actions, thrills, sensations, supernaturalism and refinement.
    [Show full text]
  • The Plays of John Lyly Bachelor’S Diploma Thesis
    Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Petra Spurná The Plays of John Lyly Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Pavel Drábek, Ph.D. 2009 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature 2 Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Pavel Drábek, Ph.D. for his valuable guidance and advice. 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................5 2. The Life of Johny Lyly...............................................................................................7 3. Lyly‟s Work..............................................................................................................12 3.1 Specific Conditions...........................................................................................12 3.2 Inventions..........................................................................................................14 4. The Plays...................................................................................................................18 4.1 Introduction to the Eight Plays..........................................................................18 4.2 Allegory.............................................................................................................25 4.3 Sapho and Phao.................................................................................................28
    [Show full text]
  • Playwright and Minister
    PLAYWRIGHT AND MAN OF GOD: RELIGION AND CONVENTION IN THE COMIC PLAYS OF JOHN MARSTON by Blagomir Georgiev Blagoev A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of English University of Toronto © Copyright by Blagomir Georgiev Blagoev (2010) PLAYWRIGHT AND MAN OF GOD: RELIGION AND CONVENTION IN THE COMIC PLAYS OF JOHN MARSTON Blagomir Georgiev Blagoev Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of English University of Toronto 2010 ABSTRACT John Marston’s literary legacy has inevitably existed in the larger-than-life shadows of his great contemporaries William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. In the last two centuries, his works were hardly taken on their own terms but were perceived instead in overt or implicit comparison to Shakespeare’s or Jonson’s. As a result, Marston’s plays acquired the lasting but unfair image of haphazard concoctions whose cheap sensationalism and personal satire often got them in trouble with the authorities. This was the case until recently, especially with Marston’s comic drama. Following revisionist trends, this study sets out to restore some perspective: it offers a fresh reading of Marston’s comic plays and collaborations—Antonio and Mellida, What You Will, Jack Drum’s Entertainment, The Dutch Courtesan, The Malcontent, Parasitaster, Eastward Ho, and Histrio-Mastix—by pursuing a more nuanced contextualization with regard to religious context and archival evidence. The first central contention here is that instead of undermining political and religious authority, Marston’s comic drama can demonstrate consistent conformist and conservative affinities, which imply a seriously considered agenda. This study’s second main point is that the perceived failures of Marston’s comic plays—such as tragic ii elements, basic characterization, and sudden final reversals—can be plausibly read as deliberate effects, designed with this agenda in mind.
    [Show full text]
  • Congregational History Society Magazine
    ISSN 9B?>–?;<> Congregational History Society Magazine Volume ? Number < Spring ;9:: ISSN 0965–6235 THE CONGREGATIONAL HISTORY SOCIETY MAGAZINE Volume E No B Spring A?@@ Contents Editorial 106 News and Views 106 Correspondence 107 The Hampton Court Conference, the King James Version 108 and the Separatists Alan Argent Locals and Cosmopolitans: Congregational Pastors 124 in Edwardian Hampshire Roger Ottewill The Evangelical Union Academy 138 W D McNaughton Reviews 144 Congregational History Society Magazine, Vol. 6, No 3, 2011 105 EDITORIAL In this issue Roger Ottewill conducts readers to Edwardian Hampshire to meet the county’s Congregational pastors, both local, cosmo-local and cosmopolitan (all terms he explains), among whom we find the influential Welsh wizard, J D Jones of Bournemouth, called “the arch-wangler of Nonconformity” by David Lloyd George, who knew a thing or two about wangling. We travel north of the border to study that understated contribution to Scottish Congregationalism, the Evangelical Union, explicitly through its academy. Lastly, like many others in 2011, we turn aside to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. In this magazine, our examination of this Jacobean masterpiece involves a consideration of its origins, amid the demands for further reform of the established church, and the growth of those forerunners of Congregationalism, the English separatists. NEWS AND VIEWS We were saddened to learn of the death of John Taylor, for many years the editor of the Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society and, after 1972, of its successor and our sister journal, the Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society .
    [Show full text]
  • Ceramics Monthly O
    APRIL 1957 • 50c Igl V • g H i i i i PUT \ / i ~,,~ii~,,~,,,,,~,~,,~,~,,~,,,~ ,~, :,~ ~ ~ :i/ii~i~i~ iiiiii'i~iiii~,~,~'~i~ili!!!~!~i:~...... i SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER! The materials used in Re-Ward's BRUSH-ON GLAZES are much more expensive than those used in ordinary glazes, and you will recognize this immediately. Because we want you to try them, your dealer FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY will allow you 10¢ off the regular price for each jar. 10¢ OFF! See your dealer TODAY. CANADA GREATER TORONTO CERAMIC CENTER, 167 Lake Shore Rd., Toronto 14, Canada COLORADO LAKEWOOD POTTERY, 6955 W. Colfax, Lake- ATTENTION: DEALERS, STUDI so HOOLS I wood, Colorado CONNECTICUT See one of these RE-WARD Distribi~s for SYBIL GARVIN CERAMICS, 77 Main St., Port- quality products and land, Conn. servicI THE POTTER'S WHEEL, Post Road, Westport, Conn. ~mBAMA WASHINGTON, D. C. CERAMICS by OL~1828 Pinson St., Birming- McNOR'S CERAMIC STUDIO, 5113 Georgia Ave., ham, A a N.W., Washington, D.C. CERAMIC ART TRF,~IlRE HOUSE, 3658 S Perry DELAWARE .... • .... St., Montgomery, ~j~. CLAY DEN, 213 Fenwick Ave., Wilmington, -:~'~SKA Delaware THE MUD NESTi~]/~2 Lacey St., Fairbanks, FLORIDA JADOL ARTS & CRAFTS, 8965 Biscayne Blvd., Alaska ~NSAS Miami, Fla. ALLISON CERAI~rruDIO, 20 Arcade Bldg., GEORGIA Little Rock, Ark.UlWU PATRICIA TACKABERY, 3041 Boiling Way N. E., CALIFORNIA Atlanta, Ga. THE SHED, 1000 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda, IDAHO Calif. HOUSE OF WHITES, 5702 Fairview, Boise, Idaho POTTERY MILL, 1035 D St., Arcata, Calif. ILLINOIS STEWART'S of CALIFORNIA 7140 Firestone ILLINI CERAMIC SERVICE, INC., 439 N.
    [Show full text]
  • The King James Bible
    Chap. iiii. The Coming Forth of the King James Bible Lincoln H. Blumell and David M. Whitchurch hen Queen Elizabeth I died on March 24, 1603, she left behind a nation rife with religious tensions.1 The queen had managed to govern for a lengthy period of almost half a century, during which time England had become a genuine international power, in part due to the stabil- ity Elizabeth’s reign afforded. YetE lizabeth’s preference for Protestantism over Catholicism frequently put her and her country in a very precarious situation.2 She had come to power in November 1558 in the aftermath of the disastrous rule of Mary I, who had sought to repair the relation- ship with Rome that her father, King Henry VIII, had effectively severed with his founding of the Church of England in 1532. As part of Mary’s pro-Catholic policies, she initiated a series of persecutions against various Protestants and other notable religious reformers in England that cumu- latively resulted in the deaths of about three hundred individuals, which subsequently earned her the nickname “Bloody Mary.”3 John Rogers, friend of William Tyndale and publisher of the Thomas Matthew Bible, was the first of her victims. For the most part, Elizabeth was able to maintain re- ligious stability for much of her reign through a couple of compromises that offered something to both Protestants and Catholics alike, or so she thought.4 However, notwithstanding her best efforts, she could not satisfy both groups. Toward the end of her life, with the emergence of Puritanism, there was a growing sense among select quarters of Protestant society Lincoln H.
    [Show full text]